Commenting as a reproductive genetic counselor with firsthand experience counseling patients undergoing fertility treatments — CRISPR won't likely lead to extensive cosmetic or enhancement purposes given these traits are often polygenic and would involve altering many genes across the genome, many of which we don't understand fully. CRISPR is mostly good for specific target edits (good for single gene disorders like hereditary vision loss), not for common polygenic traits.
Instead, embryo selection, not gene editing, is what we should be more cognizant/wary of. By 2049, it's probably feasible for future parents to "roll the dice" and simulate 10,000 potential outcomes of what their child will have predispositions towards. They can choose to implant the embryo that most aligns with their desired outcomes.
This is a complex/nuanced topic that I feel few understand — it's much more than just whether we can make designer babies or not. Perhaps a topic for a future post on my newsletter :)
Thank you for taking the time to write this, Christina! I'm glad to hear an expert's perspective on this.
I'd love to understand this more so I have some follow-up questions:
• What percentage of the human genome have we accurately mapped to specific traits? (During my research, I found that it was 80% but I'm not sure if the source is reliable)
• Is there any way to measure which group of genes affect polygenic traits? Would love to hear about any research or articles you recommend reading
• For embryo selection, what would determine the specific predispositions? I'm trying to understand whether there's some link between that and gene editing. If we can simulate and determine what a single gene (or group of genes) could affect someone's child, can't we use that same knowledge to edit the exact genes?
And I'm subscribing up to your newsletter! Looking forward to reading about your awesome work :)
Great questions - not full answers, but things to get you started:
1. This... really depends on the trait itself. What to look for is the estimated heritability of a disease/trait — some can be basically fully explained by genetics (ex. Huntington's disease - close to 100%), others less so (ex. depression - less than 10%)
2. Yes — this is an active (still nascent) area of research, known as polygenic risk scores. See http://polygenicscores.org/explained/ for a primer.
3. Polygenic risk scores help give us a better sense of specific predispositions but aren't perfect predictors. re: gene editing for polygenic traits — it would be difficult, for a variety of reasons. For one, editing multiple sites at once is hard.
Commenting as a reproductive genetic counselor with firsthand experience counseling patients undergoing fertility treatments — CRISPR won't likely lead to extensive cosmetic or enhancement purposes given these traits are often polygenic and would involve altering many genes across the genome, many of which we don't understand fully. CRISPR is mostly good for specific target edits (good for single gene disorders like hereditary vision loss), not for common polygenic traits.
Instead, embryo selection, not gene editing, is what we should be more cognizant/wary of. By 2049, it's probably feasible for future parents to "roll the dice" and simulate 10,000 potential outcomes of what their child will have predispositions towards. They can choose to implant the embryo that most aligns with their desired outcomes.
This is a complex/nuanced topic that I feel few understand — it's much more than just whether we can make designer babies or not. Perhaps a topic for a future post on my newsletter :)
Thank you for taking the time to write this, Christina! I'm glad to hear an expert's perspective on this.
I'd love to understand this more so I have some follow-up questions:
• What percentage of the human genome have we accurately mapped to specific traits? (During my research, I found that it was 80% but I'm not sure if the source is reliable)
• Is there any way to measure which group of genes affect polygenic traits? Would love to hear about any research or articles you recommend reading
• For embryo selection, what would determine the specific predispositions? I'm trying to understand whether there's some link between that and gene editing. If we can simulate and determine what a single gene (or group of genes) could affect someone's child, can't we use that same knowledge to edit the exact genes?
And I'm subscribing up to your newsletter! Looking forward to reading about your awesome work :)
Great questions - not full answers, but things to get you started:
1. This... really depends on the trait itself. What to look for is the estimated heritability of a disease/trait — some can be basically fully explained by genetics (ex. Huntington's disease - close to 100%), others less so (ex. depression - less than 10%)
2. Yes — this is an active (still nascent) area of research, known as polygenic risk scores. See http://polygenicscores.org/explained/ for a primer.
3. Polygenic risk scores help give us a better sense of specific predispositions but aren't perfect predictors. re: gene editing for polygenic traits — it would be difficult, for a variety of reasons. For one, editing multiple sites at once is hard.